Close to the Nachiyar Kovil (my previous post) is the Thrunaraiyur is dedicated to Ramanathaswamy and the Goddess is called by Parvatha Vardhini. After visiting the Nachiyar Kovil, I wanted to visit this temple. This temple is on the Kumbakonam- Kudavasal Road.

The main deity in this temple is Lord Shiva as Ramanathaswamy and the Goddess is called by Parvathi Vardhini. It is said that Lord Rama, while returning to Ayodhya after his exile, stopped here to worship Lord Shiva along with Hanuman. Many people consider this temple as important as the famous temple of Rameswaram in terms of the divine powers since both these temples have Lord Ramanathaswamy as their presiding deities.

However, the uniqueness of this temple is also the presence Saturn, or Shani Bhagwan, who resides in this temple with his consorts, Manda Devi, and Neela Devi, along with his sons, Manda and Kuligan. Very rarely do you find Shani Bhagawan with his family and hence he is known as Mangala Shani (the auspicious Shani). He is also blue in colour in this temple and not black as is seen in other shrines dedicated to Lord Saturn. You may recall the other temples in the Saturn series that I have written – that is Thirunallar Shanishwara temple in Tamil Nadu, as well as the Shani Shinganapur Temple in Maharashtra.

A vigraham of King Dasharatha paying obeisance to Lord Shani is also seen in the garba griha. And therein lies the interesting legend attached to the temple regarding Lord Saturn.

According to the legend King Dasaratha, Sri Rama’s father and the emperor in the Ikshvaku lineage was ruling the entire world. His subjects were all content and happy, and in the history of mankind he was one of the most liked rulers. It was during his reign that Shani (Saturn) had to transit the Rohini star, after his transit in the Kritika star. Sage Vasishta and other advisors to the king said that this transit would bring a lot of hardship to mankind and an extreme drought could also occur!

To save the denizens of the Earth, King Dasaratha mounted his chariot and approached the asterism of Rohini to stop Shani Bhagawan. A boon given by the devas had enabled him to fly across the universe. The king was also protected from the gaze of Saturn (Shani Drishti). When he saw Shani Bhagawan approaching Rohini Nakshatra, he tried to block his entry in the asterism. However, that was against the law of Nature and Saturn had to make his direct transit. But Shani Bhagawan was moved by the king’s commitment to his people, and said that he would not cause any harm. He also advised King Dasaratha to have a bath at the sacred tank of Thirunaraiyur Temple tank. Hence, Dasharatha saved all the denizens of the Earth from devastation and famine.

It is believed that King Dashrath composed a Shani Stotram as a thanksgiving to Shani Bhagavan and it came to be known as Dashratha Shani Stotram. This stotram is supposed to be is an excellent remedy for sade sati or the seven and a half year transit over the moon in a person’s astrological chart.

The Temple is believed to be more than 1500 years old. The temple faces and has an arch at the entrance. The statue of the bull -Nandi and the Balipeedam can be found facing the sanctum immediately after the entrance. Ramnathswamy is in the form of a lingam and it is observed that the rays of the Sun and the Moon fall directly on the Shiva Lingam in the month of April. There is a separate shrine for Navagrahas with the Sun at the centre with his two Consorts, Usha Devi and Prathyusha Devi. The other planets are found around the Sun.

Though the Shani temple is a sub-shrine of the Ramanathaswami temple in Thirunaraiyur, Saturn’s abode here has separate Dhwajasthambam, Balipeetam and the figure of a crow mount (his vehicle) in front of it. The sthalavriksham is “erukku” (Calotropis gigantea), and the holy water source is known as Rama Theertham.